Harrison Ford Quotes

(On being a leading man) "I`m like a fireman. When I go out on a call, I want to put out a big fire, I don`t want to put out a fire in a dumpster."

"I don`t use any particular method. I`m from the lets-pretend school of acting."

I don`t do stunts - I do running, jumping and falling down. After 25 years I know exactly what I`m doing."

"You know you are getting old when all the names in your black book have MD after them."

"Starring in a science fiction film doesn`t mean you have to act science fiction."

Whoever had the bright idea of putting Indiana Jones in a leather jacket and a fedora in the jungle ought to be dragged into the street and shot."

(asked if he believes in "the Force":) "I think the Force is in you. Force yourself."

(on Star Wars) - "I understood the impact of those movies because I had young children who watched them religiously. I saw the Star Wars films so often in my house that I ended up knowing all of the other actors lines."

If people recognize me when I`m out in public, I`m very nice to them. I`m very nice to people even when they don`t recognize me. I don`t even mind if people come up to me while I`m eating dinner, but if they recognize me while I`m having sex, I refuse to sign autographs.

(On playing Indianna Jones again) "No one wants to see a hero have to pick up his cane to hit someone, but I`m still quite fit enough to fake it."

Different clothes, different character. That`s how I feel about it. (From an interview explaining that Indiana Jones was not the same character as Han Solo)

(Acknowledging that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg originally wanted another actor to play Indiana Jones): "My playing Indy was mentioned to me about only six weeks before shooting started, but being second choice wasn`t at all offensive. I would always assume that it would be normal for a director - once having worked with an actor in a particular part - not to think of him for something else. I`d presume that he`d want to accentuate the difference between the two characters by having another actor. I was more than happy when they did ask me to play Indiana Jones, because it promised to be a terrific role in a great film."

Once a film is finished, it`s over for me. I`m on to something else. (explaining his disinterest in reliving the role of Han Solo, even after the Star Wars trilogy was reissued in 1997)

(Asked if he would ever play Indiana Jones again) "In a New York minute".

I used to shake my head, as in No, I just look like him." But that`s not fair. So I said to those little old ladies at Trenton airport, "Yes, I am Harrison Ford". And they still didn`t believe it was me."

(about Han Solo, speaking in 1979) He`s not a cardboard character to me at all. He`s as real as anything else. I never thought of the character as having only two dimensions until the critics said so. And they`re wrong. The third dimension is me.

I am a kinder, gentler Harrison Ford than I once was.

(Talking about George Lucas): "I think George likes people. I think George is a kind, warm hearted person, but he can be a little impatient with the nature of acting, the need to work till you find something. He`s like `It`s right there, it`s right there, I wrote it, it`s there, just do it.` But you can`t just do it that easily."

I confused them so badly that they never took action on my petition. My conscientious objection wasn`t based on a history of religious affiliation, which made it difficult at the time. I went back to my philosophy training from college. I remembered Paul Tillich`s phrase, `If you have trouble with the word God, take whatever is central or most meaningful to your life and call that God.` I always had trouble with the notion of God in a stand-up form. So I developed a thesis and took the Biblical injunction to love thy neighbor as thyself as the central and most meaningful thing in my life. I combined it all and typed for days and sent it off and never heard a word. Never got called in. - On registering as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War.

Before, I was grateful for a job, almost any job. Now, I`m apprehensive, but I know I have other options, and when I ask for the money, they pay it. It`s that simple.

I started by chasing a Folger`s commercial. But I just somehow couldn`t manage to say, `Honey, that`s a great cup of coffee.` (on the early days of his career)

Los Angeles is where you have to be if you want to be an actor. You have no choice. You go there or New York. I flipped a coin about it. It came up New York, so I flipped again. When you`re starting out to be an actor, who wants to go where it`s cold and miserable and be poor there?

I am not the first man who wanted to make changes in his life at 60 and I won`t be the last. It is just that others can do it with anonymity. I was interested in changing my life. I have always had the ability to change and become other people through my acting. I took a good look at myself and decided I wanted something different from the way I was living. That`s not such a bad thing, is it? But, because of my past, I think it took a lot of people by surprise. They wondered what was happening to me. I was very much aware of what was happening. I`m living the way I want to live.

(When asked: If heaven exists, what would you want God to say to you at the pearly gates) "You`re a lot better looking in person."

I grew up in the mid-west. You don`t ask what a person`s religion is, you don`t ask what their politics are, you don`t ask how much money they make and I pretty much still have that attitude about it. It`s none of anybody`s business and I don`t advantage anyone by telling them what my personal politics are ... The arguments are much too subtle to be entered in that way, to my mind. There are things that I think are happening in he world that are egregious mistakes but I`m only operating out of my own box and I don`t have any expertise. I`m a voter ... I have one vote, that`s all I should have.

I don`t think I`ve mastered anything.I`m still wrestling with the same frustrations, the same issues, the same problems as I always did. That`s what life is like.

(Asked if he would ever play Han Solo again) "No, because I have outgrown that character".

I am Irish as a person, but I feel Jewish an an actor.

(To cinema owners in Las Vegas) "I`ll make you a deal. I`ll try to keep making films that put people in your theatre seats and you try to keep their shoes from sticking to the floor."

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.

I think I did have a reputation for being grumpy. I don`t think I`m grumpy. I have opinions. I have an independent vision. I am a purposeful person. But on a daily basis, I think I`m other than grumpy. I think it is a case where I am coming to do business and not there just to be flattered and cajoled and used.

The loss of anonymity is something that nobody can prepare you for. When it happened, I recognized that I`d lost one of the most valuable things in life. To this day, I`m not all that happy about it.

It`s very little trouble for me to accommodate my fans, unless I`m actually taking a pee at the time.

What does that mean (when a director says) `trust me`? Does that mean I should obviate all of my experience? Should I replace a certain knowledge with belief? Where does that get you? I have had experience in my life. I am 63 years old. Why should I be trusting a director?

(After his first screen test) The studio guy told me, "Kid, you have no future in this business." I said, "Why?" He said, "When Tony Curtis first walked onscreen carrying a bag of groceries -- a bag of groceries! -- you took one look at him and said, `THAT`S a movie star!`" I said, "Weren`t you supposed to say, `That`s a grocery delivery boy?`"

(On his marriage to Melissa Mathison) "It was just part of the continuum of the relationship . . . I don`t know if I ever proposed to her".

(Talking about Blade Runner (1982)): "It could have been so much more than a cult movie."

There have been times in my life when I have felt I was lonely, but I don`t think you want to live your life in order to mitigate against loneliness. - from People magazine (June 23, 2003 issue)

Failure in all other fields. (on what made him choose acting as a profession)

I`m very disturbed about the direction American foreign policy is going. I think something needs to be done to help alleviate the conditions which have created a disenfranchised and angry faction in the Middle East. I don`t think military intervention is the correct solution. I regret what we as a country have done so far.

Nothing shocks me. I`m a scientist.

I don`t want to be a movie star. I want to be in movies that are stars.

I had no expectation of the level of adulation that would come my way. I just wanted to make a living with a regular role in a television series.

You know you`re getting old when all the names in your black book have M. D. after them.

I think American films right now are suffering from an excess of scale. Lots of movies we`re seeing now are more akin to video games than stories about human life and relationships. Twelve-to-twenty-year-olds are maybe the largest economic force in the US movie business. I`m not a very nostalgic person - but I enjoy a good story.

(Talking about the appeal of Indiana Jones): "Indiana Jones is always getting in way over his head and just barely getting out by the skin of his teeth."

I saw a bit of director Steve Gaghan`s movie Syriana (2005), and I wish I`d played the part that was offered to me - George`s part. I didn`t feel strongly enough about the truth of the material and I think I made a mistake. I think the film underwent some changes, and I think a lot of it is very truthful: the things that I thought weren`t, were obviated after I left the table.

I`m very troubled by the proliferation of arms, at the fact so many people in the United States carry guns. It obviously contributes greatly to the crime problems we have. I`m sure gun laws should be strengthened in the United States. I just don`t know the correct mechanism.

(Talking about George Lucas): "He doesn`t really understand the nature of acting. He`s like `It`s right there, it`s right there. I wrote it, it`s there, just do it.` But you can`t just do it that easily."

Identification solely with Star Wars could have been the beginning and the end, with no middle, to my career.

I had a very strong feeling about the Vietnam War, and I had a strong feeling about participating in it. The military draft was in place, I was summoned for a physical exam, and I was either going to be classified as fit for military service or make my objection to it. So I made my objection to it.

My approach to acting is the let`s pretend school of acting. If real emotion is available, use it, otherwise I follow what I think is an AA rule: `Fake it till you make it.` Emotions are an interesting language. Sometime they sneak up on you when you`re not expecting, when you are available to it.

It`s a little-known fact, but I wanted Han Solo to die at the end of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). I thought it would give more weight and resonance. But George Lucas wasn`t sympathetic. He didn`t want me killed by those teddy bear guys.

Peace is not the absence of war but the presence of justice.

You know you`re getting old when all the names in your black book have M. D. after them.

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.